Equestria and the Time Lord Episode 7: The Desert Zone
by The Orwellian Writer
Summary: What was once Equestria is now in turmoil. An environmental disaster has made severely contrasting climates all over the place, with all of the ones there trying to reach the most hospitable of them, but also the smallest. The Doctor also finds that some one is organizing the systematic assassination and eventual destruction of the whole complex, and he will be trapped inside.
1. Prologue: The Deadly Assassin

_Author's note: Sorry about the wait for this story, I was on vacation. Anyway…_

Equestria and the Time Lord Episode 7: The Desert Zone

Prologue: The Deadly Assassin

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Beneath the Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

A thick desert as far as the eye could see. Many ponies found it difficult to imagine anything beyond this. Some of them had even formed a religion that there was no world, only the desert. In truth, it was not only the desert. The sun hung in the sky, burning hotter and brighter than it ever had before. Pure red dragons flew through the sky, disoriented and trying to escape the heat, which stretched on for hundreds of miles. And soon, something that came from farther away than they could ever conceive arrived…

But beneath all that sand, there was a very different sight indeed. There was an office. In the corner next to the door there was a small barely grown red dragon that was lying almost stone dead, like it was frozen. There was no furniture, save for a large desk. There was no clutter on the desk, except for a laptop that had a huge many wires running into the wall.

And sitting at a swivel chair that was leaned back was what might well have been a pony, but you couldn't tell. He was draped in black robes that stretched very baggily over his hooves and body, and the conical hood of it stretched over his face, leaving only circles big enough for his eyes to reveal any of his entire body. Out of his sleeves for his fore hooves came two bony hands, but you couldn't tell if they were real or mechanical, one of which was grasping a paintbrush, and the other painting a clear gel along the ring of a helmet like metal hat.

An image appeared on the screen of the computer. It was the image of the species that ponies had evolved from and would evolve into. "Have you finished all of the preparations for the assassination today?" he barked at him.

"Just about. It has been arranged." He said in a raspy, quiet voice.

The image disappeared, leaving the screen black. He continued to sit at the chair, painting the thick gel all around the ring of the hat in preparation for the forthcoming assassination.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, Just Outside the Pony High Council, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor, smiling, stepped out of the TARDIS shortly after it materialized in the center of a white with a tint of grey hexagonal room. "Here we are! Let's see where we are!" he said enthusiastically.

Romana stepped out behind them. "I wonder what this place was built for."

"We'll soon find out." The Doctor said as he began to get into a discussion with her.

Daring Do stepped out in a depressed fashion. She wasn't so enthusiastic about exploring anymore. Traveling with the Doctor had started to become depressing to her, and she didn't think she could do it any longer if a tragedy kept happening wherever they went.

"You coming?" The Doctor called out to her as he went through the door.

Daring Do put on a brave sort of face and went through the door behind the others.

Beyond the door was a long row of chairs, and on those chairs were ponies. All those ponies were wearing light gold robes and hats reminiscent of the hats they wore on Gallifrey. They were all arguing about some form of political issue of some sort.

"We cannot leave this zone. The heat suits cannot support us for long enough to escape its climate." One said abrasively.

"But the Jungle Zone is the only place hospitable enough to support us all indefinitely." Another argued.

"What are you trying to do, spark a war with the Ice Zone and the Mountain Zone? I've heard reports that they want to go to the Jungle Zone as well." Another one said.

"I agree with him. The Jungle Zone is smaller than all the others in what was once Equestria, so there is only room for one to live there." Another one of them agreed.

The Doctor saw this was going nowhere fast, so he stepped forward. "Hello." He said, making his presence known.

Quite a few of the ponies that were arguing jumped in the air. One of them that had a light grey coat as judged by his face and tufts of graying brown hair sticking from his hat. "Who are you?" he said.

"I'm the Doctor and these are my friends," The Doctor said.

"Where did you come from?" he said, still surprised.

"We're just visitors to this place." The Doctor said.

"But no one can come here from the outside with the heat around here. It's not possible." He said, still suspicious.

"I assure you we mean you no harm." The Doctor said.

At that second, the one who had said that they couldn't leave their zone began screaming as he clutched at his head, sinking down to the floor, lying motionless.

"Cardinal Syril!" He yelled as he ran over to him.

"Well that was sudden." The Doctor said as he pulled off the helmet he wore. All the flesh that was beneath the ring of the hat was swollen and purple. He noticed that there was a clear gel on the ring of the helmet.

"Don't touch that!" the one who had first talked to them. "Its biocide plus." He said

"You have that around here? I thought this dimension was supposed to be peaceful. Biocide plus eats right through your skin." The Doctor said.

"How did this happen?!" asked a panicked member of the council.

"It's the work of Milton!" shouted another panicked one.

The one who had first spoken to the Doctor faced the crowd. "Be rational. We all know that Milton is a myth." He said calmly.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Beneath The Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

"A myth, am I?" The hooded, obscured pony/ creature as he identified himself as Milton. "They will soon wish I am only a myth." He turned to the computer and pressed a button on it.

The image of the one that had ordered the assassination appeared.

"The assassination has been carried out accordingly. But three ponies have arrived in the hall of the high council. They will be blamed for the assassination, and then they will die. The amount of ordinary ponies in the city must stay the same for things to go as planned. I have told you." Milton said as he turned off the computer and waited.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Hall of the Pony High Council, 345, 075 C.E. =**

"Who is Milton?" The Doctor asked.

"We know that ponies are evolving into what we call the Moloids, that want us out of the way. Some say there is one called Milton that coordinates attacks against us, one of their leaders. Most say it is a silly belief, nothing more." He said.

"I see. By the way, what's your name?" The Doctor asked.

"I am Castellan Augustin." Castellan Augustin said simply.

"Castellan Augustin… Who do you think did this?" The Doctor and Romana asked.

"You have an intimate knowledge of what was used to kill him." Augustin answered.

"Not again." Daring Do groaned, having been speechless throughout the whole ordeal. '_Not again indeed. It's happening all over again. Somepony died. And the Doctor is almost egging something worse to happen on!_' she thought.

"But we didn't do it!" Romana protested.

"I'm not going to accuse you yet, but it's too great a coincidence to ignore. I shall escort you." Augustin said as he led them away.

Meanwhile, a shadowy figure leaned against the railing as he aimed his gun and fired three shots in their direction.

_BANG…BANG…BANG…_


	2. Chapter 1: World's End

Chapter 1: World's End

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, Inside of the Pony High Council, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Somewhere, three ordinary ponies dropped to the ground, dead.

"Why did you do that? I ordered you to kill the ones who just came her!" yelled the voice of Milton through a small communicator in the assassin's ear.

"With all due respect, I went and saw the ones you ordered me to kill. They seemed like they had information that you would consider valuable, so I evened out the number of ordinary ponies so they could stay." The assassin said simply.

"Very well." Said the voice of Milton as it stopped transmitting.

The assassin then got away as quickly as he could before anyone could possibly detect his presence there.

Down below, Augustin pushed The Doctor, Romana, and Daring Do along, giving them a stoic glare, making sure they wouldn't. He barely even reacted when they went right through the hexagonal room and passed the TARDIS, he just continued to shove them along forward to wherever he was taking them.

"Where are we going?" The Doctor asked him.

"Don't talk until we get there." Augustin answered without very much of a hint of emotion.

Daring Do was worried. She just knew that tragedy would continue to happen the way they were going. That awful feeling just burned in her. She didn't want it to keep happening. She always enjoyed taking risks but this was something much different, much worse than anypony in her time could have imagined was possible. She didn't think that anypony in her time had seen or caused a brutal death, because it was just too peaceful. She was sure ponies (or people) had left the TARDIS before. She didn't know what to think…

"We are here." Augustin said as he pushed them through the door.

Inside was a room that was just barely big enough for the four of them, and a small machine not even the size of an iPhone. The Doctor figured that lie detector technology had advanced so far that you didn't even need to lie for it to figure out if you done it. But he still had curiosities.

"So what's that?" he asked.

Augustin said blatantly, "It's a torture device."

"What?" Romana asked. "You don't need to go that far for information."

"I really do." Augustin said as we wound it to a certain level. "You will tell me."

He pressed the button on it, and one of the Doctor's hearts stopped. After a second, he pressed it again, and his heart started back up. He did the same for Romana and Daring Do.

"Are you insane? You'll kill us eventually!" Romana yelled.

"After a while of seeing what I see daily, you stop caring about anything. You will tell me." Augustin said as he pressed the button repeatedly at all of them. And he continued to leave their hearts stopped for longer and longer periods of time.

"We didn't do it!" The Doctor choked out.

"There we are." Augustin said.

"You believe us? Just like that?" Daring Do said, surprised.

"Perhaps 90% certain." He said as he turned the machine off.

"You know, you never said how it was possible that we couldn't be visitors." The Doctor said, trying to casually get the last 10% of belief out of him.

"Would you like to see why?" Augustin said as he began shoving them along. "I am eager to escape the panic in this complex." He said without showing any eagerness whatsoever.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Beneath the Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Milton sat there, watching as The Doctor and his two friends were led to see the outside. "This is excellent. If they truly have information, we will know soon enough."

Then one of the "Moloids" came in holding a tray.

"Chee Sevn." Milton said in acknowledgement of his presence.

"It's around time, Coordinator." He said as he walked over and set the tray down on the desk.

"Thank you. Now, get out of this room now." He said as the Moloid walked away and left the room.

Milton turned to the tray of food, grabbed his hood and threw it off.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Maintenance Railings, Above the Pony High Council, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The shadowy assassin stood on the railing, looking over the panicked High Council as the body was taken away. He waited for another assignment. After 10 minutes of nothing coming in, he ran along the railing to his only way back to his home.

He jumped over the railing and landed in a dark damp room. This is where they collected all the unused water It gushed from the pipes down on his head. He jumped down into the hole where they collected the water and vanished, with only the sound of hoof steps rippling through the water signifying he was anywhere near.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Exit That Goes Out Into The Desert Zone, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor, Romana, and Daring Do had been placed in baggy suits that matched the color of sand, which had ice cold pads that would keep them cool out there, and hats that were like wider brimmed versions of Daring Do's hat, that had netting that covered over their faces. The Doctor wasn't too sure these would actually work.

Daring Do was also worried, but for a rather different reason. She remembered that the last time she was given a protective suit; she almost died from radiation poisoning. She wasn't too eager to go out.

"Aren't you going with us?" Romana asked Augustin, who was installing limited supplies of water into heir suits.

"No. I am working to resolve the crisis of our limited supplies of water." Augustin said simply as he walked out of what could best be described as an airlock and shut them in.

The large door in front of them slid open. They were instantly hit by a large heat surge, but their suits held up rather well.

The Doctor saw the blazing sun above them, the dragons flying around, but mostly the desert that seemed to go on for miles. "Well, I can see why they call this place the Desert Zone." He said.

It was then that electric jolts in their boots forced them to walk in different directions.

Daring Do saw where she had ended up. She saw a giant fan that was pumping the cold air into the complex that was dripping due to condensation, supported by miniature fans. Her eyes widened as she saw something so surprising that she didn't even realize that the miniature fans were slowing to a stop.

It was a pile of mud right along the wall of the complex. She knew that water was wet dirt, so this was a miracle for a desert. "This could be a new source of water!" she realized as she stood on it.

She tried to run off to tell somepony, but realized she was stuck. She could feel something dragging her down into the mud, and it wasn't quicksand. She disappeared down under the mud completely.


	3. Chapter 2: Air Lock

Chapter 2: Air Lock

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, Just Outside in the Desert Zone, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor was looking around. He could well see that there was no way that without a transporter device like the TARDIS, you wouldn't be able to get close to this place. If the Ice Zone and Mountain Zone were the only other two populated zones, and if they were named after the climate, then he could see why nopony else had gotten near the Jungle Zone successfully. He looked around, wondering where all the dragons around here lived if there was nothing but the desert.

Nearby, Romana was observing the same thing. She noted that from the outside looked like a very long school. It looked like something to that effect, especially since the walls had turned a red brick color from being in the baking sun too long. She looked about the place, wondering why Augustin was not a robot (she was rather certain) but almost always acted like one. His lack of emotions was actually quite annoying to her. She wondered if the ponies in the city were truly happy. Unless this was an Orwellian society, probably not.

Then Augustin's voice buzzed in their hats. "_Your time is up. Return to the inside of the complex. Immediately._" It said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he went back to the airlock. It slid open in front of him, and he and Romana went back in. It slid closed behind them, and they went in through the other door. Augustin was looking at the readings of heat in this room, and wasn't paying attention to them at all. It was then that they realized who was missing in this picture.

"Where is Daring Do?" Romana asked.

"I did not see her come in." Augustin said simply, refusing to look at them.

"But where is she?" The Doctor wondered.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath the Desert Zone, Section G, Where the Drains Let Out, 345, 075 C.E. =**

When her vision came back into focus after landing head first on the solid ground, she rubbed her aching head and tried to see where she had ended up.

She was in a small room. There was a hole above her head that was spouting out water on her head, and flooding the room.

She frantically looked for a door, but there wasn't one. It was a solid four walls of something harder than steel. She tried to fly up, but found that her suit covered over her wings. She began to rip it off, starting with the hat and the netting hanging down from it. She then began to rip off her four boots. She tore the rest of the suit apart, pulling it off. But sure enough, her wings got wet, water logging them and making it impossible to fly.

By this point, the water had reached almost all the way up her hooves. She began to panic. Before she knew it, the water had covered over her wings, making there no chance of flying away and getting out. She tried to jump out of the water, but something was holding her hooves down as well. The water covered over her head, and she couldn't breathe in the least. She readied herself to die…

Then one of the walls fell away, and all the water and her rushed out. As this was a total surprise to her, she began gasping up air. She was then picked up by something else.

She recognized all the features. The bony structure. The more horse like hooves. The hands on its fore hooves. The more serpentine nostrils. This is what she had faced in the far past and 600 years in the future of where they were now.

"I trust that you're all shaken up now?" it asked.

She knew the answer was yes, although she couldn't speak, but she was even more shaken up by seeing it there right now.

"Good." It said. "It makes this take effect much faster." And then he jabbed a syringe with red liquid in it into the side of her body.

Immediately her vision grew all blurry, and she couldn't see anything. Her heart rate dropped a pace. Her breathing grew slower. Her wings flapped rapidly, and then stopped. This was all she remembered before she fell into a trance-like delirium.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Daring Do found that her vision was coming into focus. Her memory had been knocked around by whatever she was injected with. Of course, she didn't remember being injected. A little bit of a Swiss cheese effect, actually. She found that she was sitting in the office of Milton, who was seated in front of her.

"Hmm." He said. "I'm rather impressed with you. 80% of ponies who are injected with that serum, after 45 minutes, have a seizure and die."

"What serum?" she asked, still confused.

"And that's the side effect if you don't die." Milton finished. "Temporary memory loss. Not any problem of mine anymore."

"So." Said the Moloid that had brought her there, making his presence known. "What do we do with her now that the effects of said serum have made her tell us everything she knows?"

"I'll let you decide, Chee Sevn." Milton said. "We were all correct to bring her down here. Leave me alone to decide what to do with the information she gave up to us." Milton said, waving them off.

Chee Sevn walked over, grabbed her, and dragged her off against her will to who knows where. She didn't even try to protest in her confusion, and allowed herself to be carted off.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Dormitory of Cardinal Augustin, 345, 075 C.E. =**

All of the miniature fans were slowing to a stop as the power was drained out of them. The first one came to a stop completely, no longer functioning at all.

In the room that the fan gave cold air to, Augustin was sitting on his regal looking bed, not giving squat about the protests that The Doctor and Romana were making to him.

"Well don't you have any location devices in the heat suits?" The Doctor asked.

"No." Augustin said.

"But why not?" Romana asked.

"We used to, but they stopped working because of the intense heat. That happened to a lot of out devices, so we had to settle for more old fashioned technology." He explained dully.

Then they became aware that almost instantly, it was baking hot in the room. They tried to reach the door, but the full heat of the desert outside was zapping their energy. They collapsed before they could get out of the room.


	4. Chapter 3: The Dominators

Chapter 3: The Dominators

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, Just Outside the Dormitory of Castellan Augustin, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor pushed himself up, kicked open the door, pushed Romana and Augustin, who had gotten off his bed, through the door, and went out himself.

They looked back at the door and realized how near that escape was.

"I suppose I'll have to condemn the room." Augustin said blandly, snapping back to his normal state of mind almost instantly.

The Doctor and Romana looked at him exasperatedly as he walked over, pressed a button on it, and the door sealed to the door frame and the door frame receded into the wall like it had never been there.

"I suppose I'll be able to find a new one." He said as he walked away, The Doctor and Romana following him, still exasperated.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel System Underneath the Desert Zone, Section G, Near the Biocide Plus Mines, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Chee Sevn led Daring Do down the hall like tunnels. She was certain she would be disposed of, but she could only imagine how. Then again, they could just inject her with something that would make her do whatever they asked her to for the rest of her life. And here she was thinking she couldn't think of anything worse than dying. Her memory was getting less messed up now. She wasn't as confused as she was before. Which brought a question to her mind…

"Chee Sevn, huh? Shouldn't it be 'G Seven'?" she asked.

He ignored the question and motioned to another one of the Moloids. "Hey, Chee Fiv!" he called over. "Can you hold her for me?"

Chee Fiv nodded, and said, "I got it." and walked over, grabbing her.

"I'll be back after I've gotten something." Chee Sevn said, waling away.

Daring Do wasn't enthusiastic about whatever it was, but didn't say anything.

Chee Fiv held her and knocked her against the wall, disorienting her. He continued to let a clear gel like liquid spill out a pipe into a bucket.

In a brief flash of memory, she recognized what that gel was. She knocked her way out of Chee Fiv's grasp, knocked him away, and pushed the barrel over on him.

Chee Fiv screamed horrifyingly as the biocide plus washed over his entire body. The pained cries rang out through Daring Do's ears until they stopped, revealing a charred, smoking corpse in the middle of a thick pool of the biocide plus.

She then realized she had left the pipe that was spewing it out all over the floor was still on, making the pool extend towards her. She could have flown over, but she didn't think this was such a good idea in her present state She ran away. She ran down the corridors as fast as she could until she found an empty closet. She decided to lay low in there until she regained all of her memories. She opened the door, went inside, and sat there, laying low. She felt truly depressed, even though she knew exactly what she was doing when she knocked over the barrel, that didn't make it any less traumatizing to her, as she sat there, sad.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Lower Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor and Romana walked behind Augustin, who was walking towards a door that was rather like the entrance to a baseball field.

"Where do you suppose he's going?" Romana asked.

"He did say he was getting his own new room, but when someone is completely predictable and totally unpredictable, its pointless to ask questions like that." The Doctor answered.

"If that's the case, then why do I ever talk to you?" she asked the Doctor.

The Doctor ignored that one as they walked through the door and into the room ahead.

It was huge. They were in the middle of a large square floor. Along the walls were 20 levels of rooms. In one of the corners of he ceiling, there was another square hole.

And of course, it was bustling. There were ponies everywhere in clothes that did not belong this far in the future, so the Doctor figured they must be recycled due to a shortage of fabrics. Markets had been set up at the bottom, and the bustle was market goers.

And of course, Augustin ignored everything and made for the hole at the top level.

The Doctor and Romana would have followed him, but they didn't really care this time around. They went over to get some information. They spotted a light gray pony with dark gray hair that was wearing a simple blue scarf.

"Excuse me, what's your name?" Romana asked.

"I'm known simply as Grey." The pony said.

"Fitting." Said the Doctor. "Anyway, I'm the Doctor and this is Romana and we were wondering what's up there." He said, pointing up to the hole.

"Don't you know?" Grey said, rather surprised.

"Not really." Said Romana.

"Well, we are currently in the lower class living area." Grey said.

"Makes sense." The Doctor commentated.

Through there is the Middle class living area, are above that is the Higher Class living area, which is the smallest." Grey explained.

"Makes even more sense." The Doctor said as he began to have a conversation with Romana. "Do you think they'll have a way to find Daring Do all the way up there?"

"It's possible." Romana said. "Its certainly worth a try."

"Well then its decided." The Doctor declared loudly. "We've got to get up there right now!"

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Milton was not happy. "You idiot! The mare killed Chee Fiv and got away almost as soon as you left her behind!" he yelled at Chee Sevn.

Chee Sevn was slightly quaking in the presence of Milton. "What? What are we going to do about that?" he said, still shaking slightly.

"I don't trust you to do it." Milton said simply as he opened a program on the computer and typed in a few commands.

A red light appeared on a metal harness that was surgically shackled to the dragon in the corner as it sprang to life and stalked out the door.

Meanwhile, Daring Do had regained all her memories, but this was not the biggest thing on her mind. The pool of biocide plus was starting to fill the closet she was in. She had pushed her way out of the closet and was now trying to keep above the pool with her wings.

But then it came. The dragon was flying towards her. And because the harness had control over its pituitary gland as well as its mind, it had grown huge at exactly the right size to make it through the tunnels but still be big. It snapped its tail forward and wrapped around her neck. It raised her up to its mouth and prepared to bake her with fire breath. She couldn't get out of it.


	5. Chapter 4: The Cave of Skulls

Chapter 4: The Cave of Skulls

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, Near the Biocide Plus Mines, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Daring Do tried to kick her way out of the grasp of the tail. It didn't really work at all. So she decided to switch tactics, hoping this would be more effective. Just as the dragon prepared to launch the fire breath at her, she kicked its head. It jammed to the side, causing the fire to hit the floor. The floor covered in the pool of biocide plus.

Even though all his emotions were controlled, the dragon's eyes widened in terror. Daring Do was able to rip free and began flying upward, realizing that just maybe,

_**BAAAAAAAAAAANG!**_

Biocide plus was highly flammable. It exploded, the force of which knocked Daring Do to the tunnel ceiling, almost knocking her senseless. The dragon had grown too big to be spared, the explosive fires consuming its entire body, roasting it alive in seconds. The heat surge from the explosion hit Daring Do, causing her to fall to the ground. The ground was still baking hot, so she tried not to stay on it for too long, even though she couldn't get her wings to lift up. There were poison fumes left over from the explosion that rose up from the floor. She coughed and hacked and tried to cover her mouth. She wished she had her clothes.

As her vision came back into full focus due to hitting her head so hard, she saw which way she wanted to go. Especially since the biocide plus was coming toward her again, but faster. She flew up over it and watched as it burned away the charred corpse of the dragon. She saw the metal harness on it and deduced that it must be some kind of control collar, or something to that effect.

The new pool of biocide plus covered up the fumes from the old biocide plus. You didn't need to be a genius to figure out why the new pool was coming so fast. The explosion must have blown the wall that covered the cave where they mined it from in to pieces. She flew in its direction.

When she got to where the trail ended. And found she was correct as ever. But then the flow of biocide plus just stopped. Nozzles on the side of the cave sucked away all of the biocide plus, leaving the floor clear. Then she heard lots of footsteps coming directly for her. She dove into the cave and ran down it.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Lower Class, The Lower Market, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor, Romana, and Grey, who had decided to come with them because they would much rather talk to him than Augustin were walking for the way to get to the Higher Class. As it turned out there weren't any stairs, only a spiral pattern so you had to go past every single door to get to the top. The Doctor was almost certain it had been built this way on purpose. He was also sure they had put no rails along the path way on purpose as well.

They went forward up the path, trying not to fall off (The Doctor figured they made it really narrow on purpose as well, but he didn't really fret on it) and kept going up, trying to make it up what would be 20 levels if there was any difference of levels here that was made impossible due to the way it was designed. It wasn't that difficult due to the fact that all the ponies were either in their rooms or down in the market all the way at the bottom. Of course, there was only room for one pony wide on this ramp, so if anypony did come out of their rooms, it would be very difficult indeed to get all the way up.

The moment he thought the magic words, one of the doors came open right in front of them. The Doctor severely hoped the pony was visiting a friend that lived upward, but no such luck was involved. The pony came down, and they struggled to not get in each other's way, and this took at least five minutes.

"How do you handle this deliberate torture?" Romana asked Grey sometime shortly afterwards.

"It's easy. You just need to figure the way around it." Grey said.

"There's a way around it!" The Doctor yelled. "Why didn't you tell us that? What is it?"

"Well the very first of exactly twenty one steps is…" Grey began.

The Doctor sighed. Long before this was over, it would severely try his patience.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Milton sat at the desk, watching Chee Sevn. "Now, all are reporting into the mines to wait until all has been finished. I will remain here, as the defenses for the room are far far greater than the mines. Do you understand this?"

"Do you want me to go down there as well?" Chee Sevn.

"No, I need you to stay here and help me with a few things. Shut the door." He said as Chee Sevn complied and shut the door.

"Open the cabinet on the desk.

Chee Sevn opened the cabinet. Milton pressed a button on the desk that made his chair go forward. He pulled a globe out of the cabinet. It showed the shape of Equestria, but there was a green circle in the middle, and one third of the rest of it was white colored, The Ice Zone, a gray colored bumpy part, The Mountain Zone, and a sand colored part, the Desert Zone. The rest of the world was the Ocean. Never mind the rest of the countries, they had been gone for a long time.

There were three dots representing the safety systems in each zone except for the Jungle Zone. One of the dots in the Ice Zone had been crossed out, destroyed by the Moloids. Milton was prepared to cross out one in the Desert Zone as well. "Not much longer now…" he said.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, the Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, Deep in the Biocide Plus Mines, 345, 075 C.E. =**

All of the Moloids had put themselves into a trench near the back of the cave and were discussing their plans while they waited. Daring Do, who had been at the back of the cave, shimmied over and positioned herself next to the trench so that she could hear what they were saying, but they couldn't see where she was.

"You remember the plan, right? Well I'll just go over it again. When our inside 'pony' downs the main fan, the complex will be blown to smithereens. Then we go in and pick off the survivors."

Daring Do's eyes widened and she knew she had to find the Doctor and warn him, but she couldn't get around the trench.

Then a hand reached out and grabbed her hoof. She gasped, and was pulled down into the trench.


	6. Chapter 5: The Exploding Planet

Chapter 5: The Exploding Planet

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Lower Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor had learned his twenty one steps so very quickly that he had charged ahead up the not very safe ramp, and was now waiting just below the hole to get to the Middle Class, waiting for Romana and Grey to catch up to him. They both sort of glared at him once they got to the top, and they went through the hole up into the Middle Class Living Dormitories above them.

It was quite a bit different than the Lower Class, but not so much really. Instead of being what looked like twenty levels, it looked more like ten levels. There was actually paint on the walls, although not really the good kind. The market was selling more edible foods than hey had below. The ponies were wearing better clothing. The Doctor made Grey take off his scarf just in case of discrimination. They began to slip their way through the crowd. They made their way to the ramp, and finally began to climb up to the hole that led to Higher Class.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath the Desert Zone, Section G, Deep in the Biocide Plus Mines, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Daring Do knew full well screaming out wouldn't do any good down in the mines, but it made her feel better that she was being pulled down in to a dark trench with a whole bunch of hostile that probably would give her only about 20 seconds to live, if not much less. She suddenly found it impossible to scream out. She realized that once again, they had injected her with something that made her fall unconscious, which she did shortly after.

One of the Moloids radioed in to Milton. "Coordinator, we found one of the ponies down in the mines, with us. Do you want us to kill her right now?" He asked.

"I will allow you to make your own decision of what to do with her, but do not kill her…yet. Do you understand?" came out the voice of Milton through the radio.

The Moloid, Who was known as Chee Sixi, sighed. "Leave her where she is and do not touch her." He said to all the other Moloids in the trench. And so they sat there, watching her for when she came back to consciousness.

**Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Middle Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

The Doctor had finally almost made it to the top of the ramp and to the hole that led to the Higher Class Living Dormitories. "We're clear on where we go after we get through the hole, right?"

"You haven't actually told us where we would go once we get through the hole." Romana noted.

"She's right. You haven't." Grey also noted to him.

"We find Augustin's new room and demand he helps us find our friend." The Doctor said as he went through the hole. "Well this place certainly deserves its name." he said to himself.

And it certainly did. The paint on the walls and the decorations around it were of the very highest quality. There was no market there, as the great food was dispensed right in the room. There were actual stairs leading up to the one sole level of rooms inhabited only by the Pony High Council. These were all the things they noted as they stepped out on to the floor of the place.

It was then that they also figured out that if anypony that wasn't from Higher Class stepped on to the floor, it sounded a reasonably loud alarm.

As the entire Pony High Council swarmed in on them, having armed themselves with whatever they could, they tried not to be hit by a broom.

"Doctor!" said Augustin as he descended the stairs like it was the most casual event of all time. "I see you have come to see me."

The Doctor looked at him with yet another look of disbelief.

The assassin was right there, behind the stairs. He covered his body with a green button up shirt, a black net mask that covered over his face, and a tan fedora. He was carrying a rifle, and he was wearing the light gold boots of a member of the pony High Council so the alarm wouldn't go off. He stepped out to begin killing, but was shot dead almost instantly. Somepony pulled off the mask to reveal the face of a Moloid.

They all turned to see who the shooter had been, and to their surprise, they found that it was in fact Augustin. "Even he never knew that this was his purpose." He noted monotonously as ever.

Before one of the members of the High Council could ask what he meant, he was gunned down as well. Augustin fired repeatedly, killing everyone in the room except for The Doctor, Romana, and Grey, who he simply ignored. He then walked into his room and was gone.

Still surprised, The Doctor and friends charged into the room after him. The Doctor was even more surprised to find that Augustin had smashed his way through a 16 inch window and jumped out into the blazing heat.

"He's going to turn off the main fan!" The Doctor realized. "I'll go and stop him!"

"Why do you have to do it? Why can't we help you?" Romana asked.

"Don't argue. Just stay put!" The Doctor yelled as he jumped out the window.

He chased after Augustin along the rooftop as quickly as he possibly could. He was amazed by his sudden impossible agility. Augustin jumped off the roof as he began running toward the main fan, so The Doctor was forced to do the same, even though it wasn't pleasant. He ran up the soaked metal stairs up to the main fan's power, trying not to slip.

Then he was hit by a gunshot. He staggered, and fell down the stairs.

With him out of the way, Augustin destroyed the main fan.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Milton's convulsing finger reached for the globe and pressed the button that pertained to the complex he was now underneath.

And then Milton's voice rang through the entire place. "Greetings, citizens. I know some of you have been debating whether or not Milton is real. I'm sorry to have disillusioned you. I can now confirm that I am real. Good bye."

Without any warning, the whole complex exploded.


	7. Chapter 6: Inferno

Chapter 6: Inferno

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, The Coordinator's Office, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Milton felt himself smile beneath his hood that covered all his features as he heard the rumble that meant that the bombs that had been placed directly around the walls of the complex had detonated, destroying almost the entire thing.

"Help me stand up." He commanded.

"What?" Chee Sevn said, rather surprised by this command.

"You heard me. Do it now!" Milton yelled. Chee Sevn grabbed one of his arms and one of his legs, hoisting him forward and on to the ground. Milton put his hands, which were aimed forward, and pushed on them, causing a huge metallic clank that made the hands snap in to the correct places. He walked around normally after this, although he seemed to have some kind of pains as he moved around.

He walked out the door, and saw a large flaming hole in the ceiling almost immediately above him. Chee Sevn, with some hesitation, lifted him up through the hole in to the complex above to overview the death of all the survivors that would be happening quite quickly at his command.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, Deep in the Biocide Plus Mines, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Daring Do came to quite quickly, and realized that she was all alone down in the trench. They had just left her down there! Then she remembered with a start the Moloid plan to blow up the complex and kill the survivors. She realized with even more horror that the rumblings above her meant it was already happening. She lifted herself out of the trench and ran through the mines, which were actually rather stable and easy to get through.

She found that there were indeed many flaming holes in the ceiling above. She flew up through one, trying not to touch the molten hot edges of the hole. She flew up and landed, and was shocked at what she saw in front of her.

It was the most graphic disaster scene she had ever seen while traveling with the Doctor. There were huge patches of areas on fire, and walls and columns had collapsed. And of course, there were dead bodes everywhere, with all the ones still alive in a terrified panic. She could hardly comprehend it; much less fathom anything to possibly do about it. Then she was shocked to find a body on the ground that she actually recognized.

It was Augustin. From what she could see, it looked like he had dragged himself a very decent distance before he was electrocuted to death. She pulled off his hat and saw a harness at the back of his neck, the rest of which was covered by his robes. It was the same kind of mental control harness she had seen on the dragon.

"Well that explains a lot." She said, not even yet knowing how right she was about it.

And she began to run through the terrifying flames and destruction around her, trying to tone them out long enough to find the Doctor, wherever he was now. She wondered where in the complex she was now. She didn't even know if they had maps this far into the future, and it was really the only thing she actually knew how to use. She knew she couldn't find the Doctor if she couldn't find out where she was right now. She wondered if it was even possible to give up in despair. Her reputation as a fearless explorer was getting less accurate by the day. She was terrified.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, the Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Higher Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Romana very much felt it when the room shook as hard as possible without breaking apart. Grey tumbled out the door due to the violent quakes that shivered through the room. All Romana could really do was wait on the bed for it all to stop.

10 minutes later, when it had all subsided, she got off the bed and went out the door. The place was almost untouched. It sickened her that the richest would be so safe and leave everypony else behind to burn. As she went down in to the Lower Class, she saw that the burning part was actually rather accurate. There were less frequent parts on fire and less part collapsed, but it was still pretty bad.

"I hope the Doctor's all right. If he didn't stop the fan from going down, than they're no telling where he is now." She said to herself in a worried tone. She looked around. She didn't see many dead bodies down on the bottom level, but it was actually really hard to tell because everypony was bunched together down there, trying to compensate for the fact that their home was now ruined. She gulped and went down into the crowd, wondering if she could possibly find he Doctor in this mess. She certainly hoped that all the ponies here would be all right.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Lower Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Grey had recognized that he hadn't really done much so far, so he began to help out with what everypony else was doing: finding the Doctor. But in the process, he was rallying the survivors into something other than a chaotic mob. He walked over to a dirty blue Pegasus with a messy purple mane who was crying. "What's your name?"

"Samantha." She said.

"Do you know anypony who got hurt?" Grey asked her.

"My father." She said, too traumatized to really say much.

"I'm sorry. But I can help you." He told her. Still sniffling, she got up as he led her over to a small group of at least six that he had managed to come over with him.

"So what are we going to do?" one of them said. "We can't survive out in the desert, but this place won't be hospitable for much longer either."

And then they saw the Moloid. It grabbed a screaming pony and snapped its neck, and then came over to them.

"You're certainly correct." Grey said. The group ran over to the Moloid. It tried to grab at them, but safety in numbers was effective enough that they overpowered it. It tried to swipe at them, but they were able to push it over into a pit of fire, killing it dead.

Samantha screamed in pain. The Moloid had swiped her wing in half. Everything became a blur for Grey as he angrily watched for more Moloids.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Desert Zone Safety Systems, Just Outside The Basic Living Dormitories Lower Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Milton walked towards the controls that controlled the life support systems of the complex. He planned to turn them off and kill all the ponies, as he explained to Chee Sevn.

"But won't that kill my species too?" Asked Chee Sevn, growing slightly suspicious.

"Indeed it will." Said Milton.

"Don't you care?" Chee Sevn asked, aghast and angry.

"No." Milton said simply.

Chee Sevn stepped forward and ripped off Milton's hood. "DON'T FOLLOW MILTON ANYMORE!" he screamed into his communicator. "I'VE SEEN HIS FACE! HE'S WEAK AND PATHETIC! HE'S…" he didn't have time to finish as his head was smashed in by a flaming metal bar held by Milton, who had pulled his hood back up.

"Hello, Milton." Said a voice behind him.

"Hello, Doctor." Milton said as he turned around. "It's nice to finally meet you."


	8. Chapter 7: The Return

Chapter 7: The Return

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Collapsing Ruins of the Desert Zone Safety Systems, Near The Maintenance Controls, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Milton turned and was rather unsurprised to see the Doctor standing there, with not even the slightest evidence of harm on his body, walking towards him. He didn't even bother to ask how he got away after he was shot by Augustin as he turned off the main fan.

"It's beginning to get slightly hot in here, wouldn't you agree?" The Doctor noted, somehow managing to act very cheerful despite the terrifying sights around him.

"It's in fact almost inhospitable in this complex, and the heat is baking in faster all the time." Milton said as he, not really caring, continued to walk towards the life support controls nearby him, still having complete intentions of turning them all off.

"Where are you going?" The Doctor said as he followed him.

"Would you actually care?" Milton said as he pulled out a gun and put it directly on The Doctor's chest. "I imagine if I shot you close range, I would bump you off for real this time." He then forcefully pushed him away with the gun, knocking him back in to a wall that began to collapse.

Milton didn't stay to watch if this killed The Doctor completely. Too many element of his plan were going wrong, but all he cared about was the end result of this. He would finish out his plan immediately.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Collapsing Ruins of the Desert Zone Safety Systems, Somewhere in the Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Lower Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

As Grey finished to bandage up the stub of Samantha's former wing as he watched his group of survivors, which was getting bigger and bigger all the time, take out and kill one of the Moloids that was working to pick off the survivors and add a grateful pony to their continually growing group. Suddenly, he looked at the ground and had a gigantic epiphany like nothing he had ever had before.

He called his group over. "I had an idea of how we could get out of this place!" he yelled enthusiastically as all the members of his group came over. "You see all the holes in the floors that were busted in after the explosion?" he asked. His group nodded yes. "Well, wherever this hole leads, its where the Moloids came from. But they're all up here now, so they won't notice if we go down there and escape through it."

His entire group seemed awestruck at that plan. "That…that could actually be a really good idea." One of them said. Mutters of agreement ran through the large group.

"Then lets go!" Grey said energetically as he jumped into a nearby hole that had cooled off.

The rest of the group carried themselves in on at a time as they examined where they were now. Grey seemed rather surprised to find an entire secret tunnel system where the Moloids lived that they had never even figured out about, as did the rest of the group, but they eventually got over it and began to explore, looking for something they could use to help navigate this place, which she they saw must be really big and they would never make it anywhere without a map of some sort.

Grey saw a door, and decided to check there. He led Samantha over, as he was taking care of her due to the loss of one of her wings. He led her over to the door and cautiously opened it. He found it in fact led to Milton's office, although he didn't deduce that until further inspection. He called another group member, Wilson, into the room.

"Ugh, it's freezing in this room." Wilson said.

"Wilson, I believe this might be Milton's office. If that's the case, it's a good place, no, an **ideal** place to start searching for something we can use." Grey said.

"Then you should start looking on the desk." Samantha pointed out.

Grey passed Samantha over to Wilson and went over to the desk, where he saw the globe. He went down in the cupboard where it came from and found a good map. "These tunnels go all the way to the Jungle Zone." He realized. "Wilson, can you get the cold air in this cave to pump out to wherever we are?" he asked.

"That's a good idea." Samantha noted. Wilson simply smiled.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Collapsing Ruins of the Desert Zone Safety Systems, Somewhere in the Basic Living Dormitories of the Citizens, Middle Class, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Romana watched as the Moloids moved up from the Lower Class to where she was, having taken care of all the survivors on Lower Class except for the group of survivors that they didn't know had escaped. She looked at a fallen piece of rubble. She grabbed it, pushed it on top of the hole where the Moloids were coming through, and used her sonic screwdriver to seal it down to the floor, running away before any of the Moloids could angrily come towards her.

She ducked through the crowd and went to the ramp where you could access the rooms, where one of the Moloids was trying to bust in to a room. She tossed the Moloid in to an empty room, and shut the door behind it. She pressed the condemn button on the door, and the Moloid was quickly sealed in the room forever as the door receded into the wall and sealed up. She wasn't sue this tactic was effective enough, so she pressed the button again, and the contents of the room, including the Moloid, were completely atomized.

She smiled and began to spread this tactic among the crowd below her.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, the Collapsed Ruins Of The Desert Zone Safety Systems, The Maintenance and Control Center, The Life Support Systems, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Daring Do went through a door and realized she was near the life support systems. The things that if you turned them off, everypony would die. But she saw somepony else that she knew in the room. "Doctor!" she said in both surprise and happiness.

"Hello, Daring Do." The Doctor said before another voice cut in to their potential conversation.

"You got here before me. I'm not surprised that you're still alive, but I am a little surprised that you got here before me." Milton said as he cocked his gun and prepared to shoot them both. "Oh well, no harm done to me."

"Well, actually…" The Doctor then ran forward without a moment's notice and ripped Milton's hood right off. Daring Do, the 'fearless' explorer, actually screamed at what he saw.

Milton's face, and possibly his entire body, was extremely disfigured and twisted. It was covered in swollen brown scars in the shape of bite marks. There were clumps of disfigured twisted hair in the places where there were no scars, but it didn't make it look any better. There was a metal life support brace around his neck. But the thing the Doctor noticed the most, was in fact…

"You're not a Moloid." The Doctor said. "You're a regular pony."

"A pony that was attacked and almost killed by wild Moloids in the Ice Zone!" said the furious Milton.

"So you instigated yourself into the Moloid culture, hiding your scars, to exact revenge on the ponies, am I correct?" The Doctor said, familiar with this kind of speech.

"And when I turn off the life support systems, I will move on to the next complex! I don't care if the Moloids die!" Milton yelled.

"But won't that kill you too?" Daring Do asked.

"Not necessarily. There's my exit right there." Milton yelled, pointing to a nearby hole.

"I think your plan is going to fail." The Doctor said, not really caring.

"What? How is that possible?" Milton asked.

"Because I was able to rewire the computers in here to broadcast every word you say right to where the Moloids will hear it." The Doctor said simply.

Milton's eyes widened in terror as hundreds of angry Moloids burst in to the room and began to stalk directly for him. He jumped down in to his exit hole, but the Moloids jumped down after him and began to attack him.

"You should start running now." The Doctor said to Daring Do as he stamped on the floor.

They both made a mad dash out of the room as the floor collapsed down on Milton and the Moloids, killing them all.

**=Gaia, The Desert Zone, The Tunnel Systems Underneath The Desert Zone, Section G, Near the Site of the TARDIS, 345, 075 C.E. =**

Hours later, when all the Moloids had been sorted out and The Doctor and Daring Do had found Romana and grey, who was still looking after Samantha, The Doctor and his friends were walking back to the TARDIS, which had collapsed through the floor during the explosion and landed in the tunnels.

"You will be all right, won't you?" Romana asked Grey as she did the honors of unlocking the TARDIS with hooves.

"Indeed. We'll find our way to the Jungle Zone, and I know its paradise there." Grey said.

"Well, good bye." The Doctor, Romana, and Daring Do said.

"Good bye." Grey and Samantha said.

"You see, Daring?" The Doctor said to Daring Do. "Everything has its time to die, but it doesn't always have to be in a rush to do so."

Then they stepped into the TARDIS as it dematerialized.

An hour later, Daring Do was lying in her bed, shocked and traumatized. "A tragedy happened…A lot of ponies died today…I killed someone myself…I can't do it anymore…No, I can't do it anymore."

To be continued in Episode 8.


End file.
